Parks Became the Best Athlete Possible Despite a Rough Last Season

“You’re basically getting punished all the time,” junior Claire Parks said in regards to running track. Parks believes track is one of the most physically demanding sports because “it’s basically other sports’ punishment.” Despite that feeling of constant punishment, Parks stays motivated through pressure, exhaustion, and injury as she tries to become her most successful self. 

Parks began track her freshman year as a way to get in shape for soccer, but she learned she actually really enjoyed racing. 

“It feels like you’re running through cement, but at some point, that fatigue kind of goes away,” Parks said. Last year, Parks went to districts where she placed third in both the 800 meter run and the 4x400 meter relay. Parks currently has a personal record of 2:19 for the 800 meter distance run; she competed in the 800 at state her freshman year. Though she felt an immense amount of pressure being a freshman, she was able to place 12th and beat her eighth grade PR by eight seconds.

“I really want to go to state, and I really want to PR. I had a rough year last year with my injury, so I didn’t get any PRs” Parks said. This year, she hopes to remain injury free, allowing her to achieve her goals. She remembers state from her freshman year fondly, marking it as her biggest accomplishment because “nobody expected me to go.”

Parks balances track with varsity and club soccer. The first several weeks of track are the hardest for her as conditioning grows in intensity to prepare athletes for the season. 

“I just have to remember that I love my sports,” Parks said. Although she may be tired, she works hard to become the best athlete she can be. 

“It feels so weird to know that you can be better than you are,” Parks said. She aims to be an athlete who can’t help but fall to the ground after racing because she pushed herself to the limit. “A lot of people don’t push themselves as hard as they can. I feel like that’s what set my freshman year apart from my sophomore year.” This year, Parks hopes to follow the trend of her freshman year and push her own limits. 

“You really have to endure pain and have the mental strength and tenacity to push through,” Parks said. She once heard that athletes only use 30% of their body’s potential before their body signals the mind to stop overextending. Parks tries to remind herself of this during races to push past her 30%. 

Of course, races don’t always go her way. When this happens, Parks attempts to limit negative self-talk and remember the best advice she’s gotten: “Have the mind of a goldfish.”

“If I do bad in one race, it’s hard to be positive, but everybody has bad days,” Parks said. She knows that dwelling on past mistakes hurts in the long run. She works to speak positively and focus on races to come, a skill employed often during her injured season.

Parks’s greatest challenge was maintaining the balance between rest and improvement. She feels she was forced into a rut her sophomore track season because of her injury, but “I ran 2:21 at districts last year, two seconds off my PR, so I know that I can overcome my injuries and beat my PR.”

Although she only joined to stay in shape for soccer, Parks now dreams of doing track in college, where she is sure to stay motivated by her drive to be the best version of herself.